Xenoblade Wiki:Drafts/FAQs/BotFAQ
What is a bot? A wiki bot (often shortened to just "bot") is a type of software which is designed to make automated edits to a wiki. Bots can edit much faster than human editors, and can perform repetitive tasks which human editors find tedious. Although the name may suggest that a wiki bot resembles a robot from science fiction, in fact all wiki bots currently available are simply software, with no physical form, personality, or artificial intelligence. What can a bot do? Use Thread:25118 as a starting point for this section. The capabilities of a bot vary, depending on the features of the software running the bot. Some of the tasks bots can perform include: * Search and replace text * Add, replace, or remove categories * Help updating links to disambiguation pages so they link to the intended pages '' The section needs more info.'' What bot software is available? A popular bot software used on Wikia is Auto Wiki Browser, AWB for short. AWB is GUI-based and runs on Windows (Vista and later), although it can easily run on Linux under WINE. AWB is often recommended for novice bot users, as it is powerful yet relatively easy to use. This forum thread includes some tutorials and discussion about AWB. Pywikibot (PWB) is another popular option. PWB is a command-line program, written in Python, that is available for Linux, Mac, and Windows. It requires more advanced computer skills to use and operate than AWB does, but offers functions not available in AWB. Editors with programming skills can create their own bots. While these can be full-featured bots, often they are more limited in scope, focusing on a single task which isn't available in other bot software. This Wikipedia page has information on creating a bot. Who can operate a bot? What special rules apply to bots? Answer these two questions based on . Consider combining the questions if there is a lot of overlap. What bots operate on this wiki? An automatically-generated list of bots can be found . For convenience, the list has been included here, but it is not automatically updated. :Active :* UnnamedBot operated by UnnamedBonus :* FlanqerBot operated by Flanqer :* WiseBot operated by WiseAdventurer :Inactive :* DoomBot636 operated by Doom636 :* Death Mask SalesBot operated by Death Mask Salesman What sort of computer skills are needed to operate a bot? For any bot software, at least intermediate computer skills are probably necessary. For PWB, being familiar and comfortable with command-line programs is almost certainly a must. Knowledge of regular expressions is extremely useful. Will a bot operator run tasks for me? I have a task that would go much faster with a bot, but I don't know how to run a bot. Will one of the wiki's bot operates help me out? Probably. Using their bot to perform tasks for other editors is generally considered part of the social contract of having a bot flag. However, bot operators are often among the most active editors on a wiki, so they may be in the midst of other projects and not have time to get to bot requests right away. To ask that a bot task be run, you can post of a message on the Wiki Board, or ask on a bot operator's (not the bot's) Message Wall. Because different bot software has different capabilities, and bot operators don't all use the same software, certain tasks may need to be performed by a specific bot operator. Additional Information Other places to pull material from: * Flanqer's request for a bot flag * DMS' request for a bot flag * The original bot thread * Intro to AWB on Community Central.